A knight at heart
by cantate
Summary: A young girl dreams about knighthood. Can Elmont point out her true strength? Elmont/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone.. This a little extra story, written as a special birthday present for "Jedi-Kay Kenobi". So lets all join in and sing a birthday song.**

**Hope you enjoy this little fic.**

Lady Kathryn hurried trough the narrow corridors. Lifting up her dress, so she wouldn't trip over the seams, as she ran towards the main square of the castle. Hopefully she wasn't too late for the ceremony to start. She always loved watching the initiation of the new Royal knights of Cloister. Today three young boys would receive the honor of knighthood after having passed their tests of courage, strength, loyalty and humanity.  
When she reached the square, it was already packed with villagers of the town and residents of the castle.

Up on the balcony Kathryn could make out the golden silhouettes of King Brahmwell and lady Isabelle. On a large stage the three new knights-to be had formed a row. She could hardly make out their faces from the distance she was in.

"Excuse me madam... sorry...my apologies sir... Ohm I do beg your pardon.." Kathryn uttered as she pushed herself through the crowd to reach the front of the stage..._Yes, I made it!... _she thought happily.

From here she had the best point of view. She could even make out the both proud and scared emotions on the faces the young men, as they tried to look as stern as possible.

Kathryn let out a deep sigh, as the captain of the royal knights entered the stage. With his blue eyes, fine posture and a hairdo that made you believe the winds came in from all directions at once, lord Elmont was the best looking man on the kingdom. Or so she thought.

Butterflies hit her stomach as he glanced her way. Kathryn could have sworn to see the corner of his lips curl into a little smile, when he saw her.

Behind her, the crowd stated to cheer, urging on the beginning of the ceremony.

The order of the festivities was always the same. Lord Elmont would address each young boys personally about the improvements he had made and the bravery he'd shown. After that the King would come down from the balcony and officially knighted them with a flick of his sword.

To finish, When Lord Elmont would hand out the royal insigne's of Cloister for their new armor.

Kathryn clapped and cheered the loudest of all as she jumped up and down her feet.

All too soon the ceremony was over and the people slowly went out their way through the castle gates. Kathryn lingered behind a little longer, still feeling too energized from all the excitement in order to go home.

"Front row, again... milady?"

Kathryn jumped at the deep voice behind her. Her cheeks blushed crimson when she saw who was behind her.

"Lord Elmont" she replied as she gave him a little bow. "Yes... I ..I like the ceremony, sir."

Elmont chuckled... "Yes I know, you're on the front row every year. Tell me, why do you like it so much?"

She lifted her head to him; her eyes sparkling. "The assignments they have to do. It shows so much courage and they need to be so clever to pass. To be able to do all that and always think of the good of others; for Cloister".

Elmont laughed at her enthusiasm. "Well, milady.. keep up with that energy and eagerness we might see you up this stage soon".

"Oh no that's impossible." She told him matter-of-factly. Elmont raised an eyebrow in surprise, obviously not used of hearing any kind of back-talk.

_"_I mean sir, as you know...becoming a knight is only for men of noble blood." Kathryn stammered

"I know for a fact that true bravery has nothing to do with bloodline, nor gender for that matter. True bravery can only be found at heart. " Elmont gave her a warm smile. "now you'd better go home, milady; before the sun goes down"

Kathryn curtsied and rushed homeward.


	2. Humanity

The market was busy today. It was a lovely warm autumn day and Kathryn's stall was full of good vegetables and ripe fruits to sell. Already she had made a good income today and she still had a few hours to go till the market ended.

More people crowded around her stall. Kathryn rushed as she tried to help each customer as quickly as possible. Weighing and measuring the fruits to accuracy, so everyone would get their money's worth. It was hard work, but all in all, she was quite pleased.

In the back of her eye and young boy, around ten years of age, lingered close to her stall. Kathryn gave him a warm small while counting out a dozen of pears for a lady in front of her. "there you go, madam.. that'll be two coppers.". The lady paid her and went on her way.

"Now, who next?"

Kathryn let out a weary sigh when at least three persons raised their hands.

She quickly moved on to the person she thought had been waiting the longest, when suddenly she noticed the young boy in the corner. Swiftly, when he though no-one was looking, the boy grabbed two apples and let them fall down his tunic. Quickly followed by a small bush of carrots. .

"Oi!" she shouted at him... the boy startled and ran away as fast as he could.

Without thinking, Kathryn rushed away from behind her stall, in pursuit of the young boy. "stop right there, you thief!" she shouted over the market square. Some people looked up to see what was going on, but much to Kathryn's annoyance, no one seemed to be bother to help her.

She kept running after him. The boy, however,, was far too quick and she could see the distance between them growing. Kathryn kept shouting, as if her voice could make him turn round. It didn't of course...

Out of nowhere a dark horse appeared from the crowd. Within seconds it had caught up with the boy and it's rider ordered him to return the stolen good while he pointed a sword at his chest.

The boy, obviously very scared, removed the apples and carrots and handed them over to the knight. His hands shaking with fear.

"Good!" Elmont said firmly "Now apologize to this young lady".

Kathryn had caught up, and walked towards them. Getting closer, she noticed the dark edges on the boy's fingernails. His tunic was grubby and one of his shoes had a hole in the front that left his toes bare.

"I.. I ..I am sorry"... the boy stammered.

"It's all right". Kathryn replied.

Elmont bent down from his horse to hand her the stolen foods.

"No, you can give it to him, sir Elmont" she said, taking pity on the boy.

"Come again, Milady?" he said in surprise

"What?!" the boy responded.

"By the looks of your cloths, I can tell you need this food more than I do." Kathryn said calmly. "But do not steal from me again! Next time, come by when the market is over, and I'll give you whatever is left."

The young boy bowed..stammering 'thank you's' ; and ran off.

She turned to lord Elmont "I'm sorry to have you caught up in this, sir. But thank you for your help"

"You're quite remarkable, milady". Elmont replied, ignoring her apology. "why did you do that?"

Kathryn shrugged "I don't think he had a choice. Wouldn't you steel if you were hungry?"

He smiled. "A strong sense of humanity. It is rare to find a person nowadays. Make sure you hang on to it milady".

Elmont gave her a small nod.

And with that, he steered his horse and drove off.


	3. Loyalty

"Katheriiiiiiiiine... Kath!... Katheriiiiine".

"Yes.. yes, what is it?"... Katherine looked outside through the little window of her cottage.

Outside her best friend Rosemary was waving. She looked picture perfect wearing her best dress and her hair braided and decorated with fresh flowers in matching colors.

"Katherine, why aren't you dressed up yet?" Rosemary asked in surprise.

"Dressed up?" she replied? But then it hit her... today was the kings birthday. How could she have forgotten about that?

The kings birthday was one of the main events in Cloister. Every year a large ball would be held inside the castle and everyone, rich or poor, was invited to join in the festivities. A perfect opportunity to dress up, dance the night away and maybe even find a nice boy to dance with.

"Oh my god,. I forgot... wait then I'll get dressed and..."... _No no no... how could I've been so stupid. _

Kathryn shoulders sank down in disappointment

"I'm sorry, Rosemary.. I can't go with you tonight."

"Oh come on, why not?" Rosemary sulked

"I promised my mother I'd help her out. My uncle is arriving tomorrow from overseas and there's just so much to do".

"But..the ball... don't you want to dance?"

"I'd love to, really, but I gave her my word... I'm sorry. You have a good time though"

"suit yourself" Rosemary replied and waved off.

Kathryn returned to the cupboards she'd been cleaning. Scrubbing them extra hard, she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for herself.

She saw Rosemary again the next morning. She talked on and on about this farm boy she'd met and danced with all night. It sounded like she had a marvelous time.

"Do you know who else was there?" Rosemary asked, as her eyes twinkled...

"I don't know...the King perhaps" Kathryn replied dryly. Trying not to be jealous of her friend.

"whaha.. no... I mean yes of course the King was there too,... but I saw your lord Elmont".

Kathryn felt her cheeks warming when Rosemary spoke his name.

"He not _my_ Elmont, Rosemary".

Rosemary giggled.. "oh no? are you quite sure.. cause you should see your face, right now..."

Kathryn frowned. "and besides... he's even asked about you"

_Lord Elmont asked about me?!_

She looked at her friends face in utter astonishment. "Does he even know my name?"

Rosemary smiled "he sure does, he might have seen us together before. He wanted to know why you hadn't come to the party"

Kathryn gasped "And what did you tell him?"

"well the truth, of course.. that you were helping out your mother"

Kathryn cringed. _Couldn't she have made up something more... interesting._

"Well, what did he say".

"He said you show your mother great loyalty".


	4. Strenght

Kathryn pulled her cloak a on a little closer round her shoulders. It was a chilly wind today and even the threes in the forest couldn't shield her enough. Her basket was almost filled to the top with fresh catharelles.

She made her way to the edge of the forest to where she knew to find some mountain-thyme. All the ingredients she needed for today's meal.

Humming a soft tune Kathryn walked along the path. Then suddenly she heard a strong voice cry out. For a moment she thought it could have a gush of wind... but then she heard it again. "_Help... Help me ... please"._

She rushed toward the a bush where the sound seemed to be coming from. There, a few meters away she saw one of the new knight lying in a ditch; his body flat out on the ground with his right leg twisted in an awkward position.

"help me, miss... please..."

"all right, all right.. I'm coming"...

Kathryn put her basked down and climbed down to reach the boy.

When she got to him she notices quite a serious gash on his shoulder. The blood slowly turning the soil red.

"What happened".. she asked him

"I.. fell... stupid really, just tripped over branch and landed here".. the knight cringed

"Do you think you can move?" Kathryn asked him, as she tried to lift his torso upwards. The boy screamed in agony when her hands touched his chest.. She did not have to be a medicine-woman to realize this boy had serious injuries. _Broken collarbone, probably a broken leg as well and I do not like the sight of that wound._

"No no.. just leave me here... go get some help at the castle."

Kathryn looked at the bleeding wound and thought of her options. To get to the castle, find someone _and _return to the forest would take up hours. The boy could have bled out by then.

"no... I'm not leaving you here" she tried reassuringly. "If you can try and stand on one leg, I'll support you".

The knight uttered a number of protests. But Kathryn replied with a firm "there's no time".

The tone in her voice made it clear to him, it was indeed serious.

Carefully she tried to get him upright. With one of his arms flung over her neck and her own arms around his waist. Kathryn was able to get him to stand.

Still it took a great deal of effort and screams from the poor boy before they managed to get out of the ditch and onto the path.

She could see the knight biting his lip to fight of the agony he was feeling. If he hadn't been trained the way he was, he might not have been able to endure the pain at all; Kathryn thought to herself.

They managed to move, though at a terrible slow pace. Kathryn quickly felt her muscles ache as she tried to support his body the best way she could.

A few miles later, sweat was pouring down her back and she knew her head must look like a red ripe tomato.

She tried to make small-talk. Keeping the boy's attention so he wouldn't faint. He hardly replied to her stupid questions like "so, do you come here often?" as he needed every bit of concentration to keep walking with her.

Just when she thought, her knees would give in to the heavy weight, they saw the outlines of the training fields used by the royal knights for their daily practice.

Kathryn was completely out -of breath from the long walk and heavy weight she was supporting. Still she could only imagine the pain of the boy she was carrying by her side. She tried to scream for help, but only let out a grunting noise. To her surprise, the knight was able to yell "Captain!.." loud enough to get a reaction.

Lord Elmont, as well as two other knight responded straight away and rushed over for help. The knights lifted their brother from her shoulders and carried him off to the sickbay. At the same time her legs gave in, and she collapsed in the soft grass, breathing heavily.

"Here"... Elmont offered her a drink of his flask

She took it to her lips and drank it dry.

"Ah thank you, sir.. I needed that"..

He nodded politely "do you know what happened to him?"

Kathryn shrugged...still catching her breath. "he said he tripped over a branch in the forest. He just took a really unfortunate fall into a ditch and landed his shoulder on a rock. I think his leg is broken too...".

"The forest? You came in walking from the forest?!

"Just the edge of it, sir..."she replied humbly

"You are quite strong, Milady... You must be exhausted. Allow me to give you a ride home. Just let me get my horse ."... And without awaiting her answer he moved towards the stables.

It took Kathryn three days before her muscles stopped aching.

But the feeling of his strong arms around her, when he brought her home (as well as the look on her mother's face when she saw the Captain of the guards bringing back her own daughter) had certainly been worth it!


	5. Courage

_Those monks hadn't rang that bell in..._Actually Kathryn could not remember ever hearing that bell. Up to this day Cloister had been a very peaceful place to live.

Sure there had been an occasional uproar, or a group of robbers trying to claim some of Cloisters wealth for their own. But never like this.

It all happened so fast. Fear had set in every pour of her body, as she tried to make herself invisible behind her vegetable cart.

She had been slow to pack everything together today. Most of the market go-ers had all ready left to make their way home, when she heard the dreadful sound of the bells warning her something was wrong. ..terribly wrong!

Within seconds the area around her changed from peaceful-to hostile. The royal knights seems to appear out of every corner and took their battle positions. Kathryn dared to look through the castle gates and got the glimpse of a small army of guihrr- worriers. A fearsome group of Viking-like robbers that existed only by plundering small villages. _Why would they come here? _

She heard lord Elmont shouting the orders to close the gate, as well as sending some of the men to guard the castle walls. With great effort they were able to close it and the pull up the bridge before anyone could enter.

But the battle wasn't won by that simple act of defense. Burning arrows flew over the castle walls. Creating small fires around her. Kathryn closed her eyes in horror when she saw one of the knights get hit with an arrow, setting his armor aflame.

To make matters worse, by the cries and orders from the men up on the castle walls she could tell a few of the worriers had managed to get inside; using strong hooks to climb over the castle walls.

Kathryn was scared ...very scared. Scared of her own life as well of the others around her. All she could do was to keep very still and stay hidden as the knights were fighting off the intruders.

She curled her body to be as small as possible. praying that no one would see her.

With the grunts and clatter of swords growing more silent around her. Kathryn dared to glance around the corner.

The sight of around her was as terrible as it was comforting. From what she could see, at least 5 of the guihrr worriers had managed to climb over the walls to reach the main square. But the knights had fought them off bravely, leaving their dead bodies on the ground. Kathryn saw lord Elmont looking around to get a good overview of the situation.

On the other side of the walls the battle continuous, though the screams seemed to be fading a little.

Just as she wanted to move from her hiding place, she saw something move. The body of the worrier, closest to her, wasn't dead after all. She could see him standing upright and making his way to Elmont, with a blade clutched in his hand.

Elmont did not see what was going on behind him.

Kathryn was trembling all over. She had to do something to stop the scene that was unfolding before her eyes.

The picked up an apple from the cart; the only "weapon" she could find at arm's reach. And threw it in the worriers-direction. Whether it was her perfect aim or dumb luck, she didn't know, but the apple hit its target. The worrier let out a high pitched squeal as he turned round to see what had hit him.

She tried to duck away but was too late. In a brief second their eyes met and on that moment Kathryn knew he would kill her.

He screamed something in a language she couldn't understand, as he run towards her.

Kathryn froze in fear. She could do no more than to close her eyes and wait for the blow.. that didn't come!

Instead she heard a gasp and a thud... when she dared to open her eyes. Elmont stood before her. The body of the worrier laying lifeless in between them.

She wanted to say something, or do something like to fling her arm around his neck and hold him, but she was too much in shock to move. So she just stared... her eyes flickering from the dead body to Elmonts seemingly calm face.

Then cheers sounded from the castle walls. "Captain.. they're retreating!" .. a knight shouted

as an unnecessary comment down to Elmont.

At that moment Kathryn broke down and cried.

Gently Elmont guided her away from the corpse. As he pulled her close. Feeling safe in his arms, Kathryn finally let go of the fear she'd been feeling. Tears rolled down her face, forming small droplets on the dark armor.

"I was so scared.."she whispered...

He stroked her hair in a soothing manner. "it is when we are scared that we do the most courageous things!"

"you're a very special girl, Kathryn" Elmont took her face in his hands as he said that.

"I am not" she mumbled.

"Yes, you are. I have seen you showing your humanity to that young thief, your loyalty to your family and your strength carrying one of my knights with a broken leg"

She looked up to him... surprised to find he had looked at her in such a manner.

"And today"... Elmont continued "Today you've shown true bravery as you exposed yourself from your hiding place, to stop that guihrr-worrier from killing me. And I want to thank you for that."

Elmont let go of her face. With his right hand he reached for the crest on his left arm to remove it. He stroked the bronze emblem with his thumb before handing it to her.

Both puzzled and flattered by his words. Kathryn took the crest. A beautiful carved tree; the symbol carries only by the Royal nights of Cloister.

"Thank you for saving my life. You're one of us now, Kathryn"

"I am honored, sir".. Kathryn finally managed to speak.

"As are we, Milady"... he replied as he bowed to her.

Kathryn took one last look at the emblem before she tucked it away in her dress. Knowing she would hold on to that, forerever.


End file.
